THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411120068
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
TGIF, the pot of money set aside by the city to build $93 million in resort-related projects, will be drained dry until the year 2000 to pay off two big debts, tourism planners were told Thursday.
This could delay indefinitely plans for other major projects, such as the Pavilion Convention Center expansion, resort street and neighborhood renewal plans, unless other funding sources are found.
E. Dean Block, director of management and budget for the city, said huge annual cash outlays will leave only $280,000 or so in TGIF over the next few years. The sum could cover the cost of drafting detailed plans for future improvements.
Most of the money will be claimed by the Virginia Marine Science Museum, which is undergoing a $35 million expansion, and the city's share of a federal hurricane protection project, which will cost an estimated $31 million.
Block said most of the $9 million in annual TGIF money generated at the Oceanfront would go to pay off the two big projects.
The bleak projections were made to the Resort Area Advisory Commission, a citizen's panel that has supervised tourist-related activities and construction projects for the past 10 years.
While the Marine Science Museum expansion was part of the commission's original TGIF (Tourism Growth Investment Fund) plan, the hurricane protection project was not. It was a late addition to the resort construction list, and plans call for a 40-block seawall and Boardwalk expansion, plus extensive sand replenishment for resort and North End beaches.
City officials, scratching around desperately for available revenue last year, seized on the TGIF pot as a quick and sure revenue source for the hurricane protection project. TGIF draws from special taxes on resort hotel room rentals and restaurant sales and is expected to net $8 million to $10 million annually in the next five years.
Block urged advisory commissioners to quickly set a new set of building priorities to avoid future city forays into the TGIF till. If definite plans are not made, he warned, the city may continue to raid the fund to pay off other projects that are unrelated to the city's tourism industry.
Roger Newill, chairman of the advisory commission, told commission members Thursday to start drafting a new priority list. It then would be presented to the City Council and used as a guide for future resort construction.
Items on the list - things like the expansion of the Pavilion Convention Center and development of a golf mecca - would be added to the city's master plan for municipal construction projects.
Some items, such as a proposed 20,000-seat amphitheater and a series of tournament-quality golf courses, will have to depend largely on private investment, Block said. by CNB